History Literature / EarthsChildren

* ImmediateSequel: ''The Mammoth Hunters'' and ''The Shelters of Stone'' both begin immediately where the previous books (''The Valley of Horses'' and ''The Plains of Passage'', respectively) ended.
** ''The Valley of Horses'' ends with Ayla and Jondalar encountering a band of Mamutoi hunters while exploring the nearby area; ''The Mammoth Hunters'' begins by detailing their meeting and fleshing out the Mamutoi characters, who invite Ayla and Jondalar to stay at their camp.
** ''The Plains of Passage'' ends with Ayla, Jondalar and their animals finally reaching the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii and someone calling out that "Jondalar is home"; ''The Shelters of Stone'' opens with Jondalar being reunited with and introducing Ayla to his friends and family. This one particularly stands out given ''The Plains of Passage'' was published twelve years prior, but in-universe no time had passed.

** Increasingly as the series progresses. Auel rhapsodizes about the locales she sets the action in, as well as the ways her characters, as allegories for the areas' real ancient inhabitants, lived off the land and adapted to their environment. The flora and fauna are also described in detail, as well as their uses in both medicine and as food, to the point where readers of George R. R. Martin's ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' series might wonder if he [[FollowtheLeader takes cues from her about how to describe a meal]]. But her acknowledgments had to be moved from the beginning of her books to the end because they got exponentially lengthy, and the research she did has often been cited as one of the main reasons for the ever-expanding delay between sequels. Ultimately, her painstaking devotion to including as much of her research as possible in the story has become something of a detraction from the later novels, especially ''Land of Painted Caves'', with readers complaining that her focus on the backdrop has caused the advancement of the plot and development of her characters to suffer.
** She also does this a lot when it comes to retelling aspects of the story that has come before. Granted that by the time she got to ''Shelters of Stone'', [[DoorStopper there was a lot of material to remember]], but Auel would often rehash the same things more than once within the space of a few ''pages'', both in a character's thoughts and in conversations that seem to just cover the same ground over and over and ''over''. One wonders if she wasn't sure people would remember what they'd read before.

The novels revolve around "Ayla," a Cro-Magnon woman who lived about 30,000 years ago, somewhere near the Black Sea (modern-day Ukraine). Orphaned at five due to an earthquake, she is taken in by a group of Neanderthals. Auel goes into great detail on the physiology of these Neanderthals, who call themselves the Clan of the Cave Bear after their primary deity. The main difference between Clan and "Others" (Cro-Magnons) is that Clan have access to GeneticMemory, which makes them quick studies for anything their species already knows but very slow to accept innovation or change. Ayla is adopted by the clan's medicine woman, and her brother, a crippled shaman, learning a great deal of herb lore and practical medicine, but also learns to hunt in direct defiance of the Clan's traditions. Her clan's leader (the brother of the medicine woman and shaman both) accepts her as best he can, able to recognize her talents and skills even if they make him uncomfortable, but when his snotty son takes up the mantle of leadership, the son has Ayla exiled from the Clan. This would be easier on 14-year-old Ayla if she hadn't borne a son, Durc, a ''Homo neanderthalensis x sapiens'' hybrid that must be left behind.

From this point on, Ayla strikes out on her own, seeking her own kind. The story then begins to alternate between her point of view and that of her designated love interest, Jondalar, a Cro-Magnon from what is today France, as he journeys down the length of the "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danube Great Mother River]]" with his brother Thonolan. Thonolan is killed during the adventure, and Jondalar wounded, but Ayla saves him, and the two fall in love. After spending a year with a Ukrainian tribe and entering a LoveTriangle, they then begin to journey back up the Danube, arriving back at Jondalar's homeland just in time for the fifth book to start.

Auel is considered something of an expert on Ice-Age culture, due to the sheer amount of research (and hands-on experience) she has with the practices at hand, such as leather-tanning, flint-knapping and cave paintings. She has attempted to weave into the story as much archaeology from the period as possible, often depicting the creation of known prehistoric artifacts. Recurring themes include the differences between Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon intelligence, sapience and physiology, and the racial tensions resulting thereof, as well as Ayla's upbringing in the Clan and the prejudice she is subjected to for that reason.

* ChildOfTwoWorlds: Ayla literally dreams that her son Durc (half Clan, half Cro-Magnon) brings the two disparate communities together, but it never happens as far as we know. In the meantime she herself, a Cro-Mag raised in the Clan, is is the catalyst for the two tribes learning to have not ''quite'' so terrible feelings towards one another.

* ConvenientCranny: In ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'' five year old Ayla hides in a cranny to escape a Cave Lion. The lion can just manage to stick its paw in to slash Ayla on the thigh, thus marking her totem.

* CradleOfLoneliness: Ayla does this ''Valley of the Horses''. When she is [[spoiler: banished from the Clan]] and forced to leave her son behind, the carrying cloth she used to carry him around in becomes the only memento of him.

** ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'' begins with five year-old Ayla losing her family in an earthquake and getting lost in wilderness, nearly being killed by a cave lion and eventually collapsing, near-death due to infection, dehydration and hunger. She's found Iza as her clan are searching for a new home, as their cave was destroyed in the earthquake. Luckily, Iza is able to save Ayla's life and Ayla manages to find a new cave for the clan to live, after which Iza formally adopts her. It's not the end of Ayla's troubles, though, as living amongst the Clan isn't easy for her.
** ''The Valley of Horses'' has another Downer Beginning for Ayla. She's completely alone in the wilderness, with no home, cut off from her family, friends and people and with no idea of where she's going or what she should do. She actually briefly contemplates ''suicide'', but ultimately determines to push on and survive no matter what. Things gradually start getting better for her once she finds her cave in the Valley of Horses.

That being said, there are a few [[RayOfHopeEnding rays of hope]]; [[spoiler: Brun and Uba both promise Ayla they'll protect and care for Durc so she knows he'll ultimately be alright. Ayla is devastated by her banishment but [[{{Determinator}} refuses to be broken]], determined to live on and hopefully find her own people some day, as her late adoptive mother Iza said she must. She also gets the final word in with Broud, declaring that she isn't really dead and he can prove it by striking her. He's so angered by this he [[VillainousBreakdown tries to hit her]] (she ducks) and thus breaks the taboo about acknowledging cursed people. When he tries to deflect the bad luck onto Brun (who had subtly acknowledged Ayla) he just turns it right back on Broud, pointing out he just proved Ayla's point and publicly humiliating him by stating [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech how ashamed of him he is]] and that he [[WhyAreYouNotMySon wishes Ayla had been his son]] because she will always be the better person; this leaves Broud deeply shaken and somewhat undermines his perceived 'victory']].

* TheEpic: Certainly has the trappings of one, being set in primordial Europe (specifically the last Ice Age) and focusing upon the life and adventures of one woman from the age of five to around twenty-six (her LoveInterest Jondalar gets a fair amount of page-time too, but we're with Ayla right from the beginning). One of the central plots of the series is Ayla's journey to [[JourneyToFindOneself find a sense of belonging and purpose]], including a very long and perilous journey across the continent of Europe. In addition to covering around two decades of Ayla's life [[ComingOfAgeStory from childhood to adulthood]], the books are all very lengthy and were published over the course of three decades. During the story, Ayla accomplishes some pretty impressive things, overcomes various obstacles and challenges, and helps change a lot of lives (and potentially the course of human history).

* IcyBlueEyes: Jondalar's blue eyes are an intense glacier blue described as "magnetic" and "charismatic" and capable of seducing any woman he uses them on.

** Increasingly as the series progresses. Auel rhapsodizes about the locales she sets the action in, as well as the ways her characters, as allegories for the areas' real ancient inhabitants, lived off the land and adapted to their environment. The flora and fauna are also described in detail, as well as their uses in both medicine and as food, to the point where readers of George Martin's ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' series might wonder if he [[FollowtheLeader takes cues from her about how to describe a meal]]. But her acknowledgments had to be moved from the beginning of her books to the end because they got exponentially lengthy, and the research she did has often been cited as one of the main reasons for the ever-expanding delay between sequels. Ultimately, her painstaking devotion to including as much of her research as possible in the story has become something of a detraction from the later novels, especially ''Land of Painted Caves'', with readers complaining that her focus on the backdrop has caused the advancement of the plot and development of her characters to suffer.

* MillsAndBoonProse: Virtually all the sex scenes (and there are quite a few).

* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: Or at least Ayla, Jondalar, Mamut, and Shamud.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler: Creb]] in the film. At the end of the movie he fills the role of [[spoiler: Brun]], promising to look after Durc and bidding Ayla farewell, whilst in the book, he was [[spoiler: killed when the second earthquake caused the cave roof to collapse]].

* StrangerSafety: Ayla and Jondolar are constantly meeting new people, who are (almost) always helpful and friendly, though this is somewhat justified by the emphasis within Cro-Magnon culture on SacredHospitality.
%%* SufferTheSlings: Ayla's .

* WhiteAndGreyMorality: Many of the series' {{antagonists}} are just jerks, ignorant or misguided rather than truly evil, and usually think they have good or justifiable reasons for their behavior. Some of them even overcome this and become good friends with the protagonists. Some notable exceptions include Broud, Attaroa and the gangs led by Charoli and Balderan, who are straight-up evil (or their actions are), with no justification for it.

* BabyFeverTrigger: Ayla decides she wants children when she grows up after her little sister Uba is born and she helps her mother care for her, something that brings her great joy. Ayla is told she's unlikely to ever get pregnant because [[MissConception her totem is too strong]], which makes her determined to keep her unexpected pregnancy despite the health risks, believing it could be her only chance to be a mother.

The first book, ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'', was adapted into [[Film/TheClanOfTheCaveBear a film]] in 1986 of the same name starring Creator/DarylHannah as Ayla. Lifetime also ordered a TV pilot based on the books in 2015. Since then however it appears to be stuck in DevelopmentHell or canceled.

** Ayla's son Durc is set up to play an important role as one of the half-Clan/half-Other children and potential future leader of his clan in ''The Clan of the CAve Bear'', but he's never seen again after Ayla leaves the Clan besides in dreams and visions. To be fair, the series is focused on Ayla and her journey rather than Durc's, and it's made repeatedly clear that Ayla will never see her son again in this lifetime, so both Ayla and the reader are left to wonder what kind of life Durc leads now.

* AbortedArc: Ayla's son Durc is set up to play an important role as one of the half-Clan/half-Other children, but is never seen after Ayla leaves the Clan
* AccentInterest: Almost every character in ''The Land of Painted Caves'' comments on Ayla's accent.

* TheAloner: Ayla for a good part of ''The Valley Of Horses''. She's actually surviving completely alone in the wilderness, using all the skills she learned in the Clan.
* AmbiguousGender: The shaman of the Sharamudoi tribe and Attaroa's child, Omel.

** In the Clan, matings are arranged the leader of a clan. Sometimes, these [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage turn out well]], such as in the case of Brun and Ebra, and Uba and Vorn. Other times, though, they don't turn out so great, such as in the case of Iza's mate, who was a domestic abuser.
** Amongst Cro-Magnon ("the Others"), families will sometimes arrange matings in order to create alliances or improve their hearth's social standing. However, it's generally much less strict than it is amongst the Clan, with many people being shocked or downright appalled when Ayla says Clan women have no choice who they mate, nor are are they easily able to leave their mates even if they mistreat them. That said, in some cultures young people will be strongly encouraged or pressured to accept a mating they're not keen on.
* AuthorFilibuster: In ''Plains of Passage'', there's a SceneryPorn segment just like any other which suddenly segues into several pages of telling the reader the despoiling of nature that's going to be committed by the people of the future is, in fact, wrong on a spiritual level.

* BeautifulSingingVoice: The One Who Is First To Serve The Great Earth Mother (she has no other name) is considered the First in part because of her beautiful singing voice, which helps her to communicate with the spirit world.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Ayla, and Jondalar as well, who is described as being not only handsome but intensely charismatic.
* BeautyIsBad: The attractive but AxCrazy character of Attaroa and to a lesser extent with the AlphaBitch Marona.

* BettyAndVeronica:
** Jondalar and Ranec, respectively, for Ayla in the third book.
** From the fifth book onwards, Ayla is the Betty and Marona the Veronica for Jondalar.

* {{Bookends}}: There are several parallels between the beginning and end of ''Clan of the Cave Bear''. After an earthquake, Ayla is alone, lost to her family, and Brun's clan must find a new cave after their old one is destroyed.
* ABoyAndHisX: A girl and her horse. And lion. And wolf. Between leaving the Clan and meeting Jondalar, a period of about three years, the ''only'' relationships Ayla has in ''The Valley of Horses'' are with the animals she tames there. It's made quite clear that having them to look after and to keep her company are a big reason she didn't go completely mad from loneliness.

* CanisLatinicus: Played with. While nothing ''sounds'' particularly like Latin on the surface, a couple of the hallmarks of the Latin language appear in the books. All female names (across Neanderthals ''and'' Cro-Magnons!) end with the letter "a," and all of the Cro-Magnon tribes described have names ending with the letter "i" (a common ending for a plural noun or adjective).

* ConvenientCranny: In ''Clan Of The Cave Bear'' five year old Ayla hides in a cranny to escape a Cave Lion. The lion can just manage to stick its paw in to slash Ayla on the thigh, thus marking her totem.
* CoolOldGuy:
** Creb, for being a genius, infinitely patient, and being willing to love Ayla even when he couldn't accept her inappropriate behavior.
** Mamut: "I have forgotten more than you will ever know."
** Brun, who would be the best leader ever if he didn't love his Jerkass son Broud so much.
** Zoug, the old hunter who is all about dignity in the face of brash young {{Jerkass}}es.

** The idea of the Clan using sign language was based on a theory that Neanderthal vocal cords were constructed in a way that limited the range of sounds they could verbalize. Specifically, there was no evidence that they had a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyoid_bone#Function hyoid bone]]. Recent excavations have debunked this, as a hyoid bone has been found in Neanderthal remains.
** Neanderthals are portrayed as almost universally dark-haired while Cro-Magnons show all the phenotypes found in modern (mostly European) humans. Recent studies in neanderthal mDNA have shown that at least some of them were red-haired. Additionally, its likely that the Cro-Magnons would have been fairly dark skinned, since they'd have recently (from an evolutionary perspective) immigrated out of Africa.

* DeadGuyJunior: Or, in this case, Dead Girl Junior. Uba was named in memory of her long dead great-grandmother.
** Then there's [[spoiler: Thonolia]], presumed to be the daughter of [[spoiler: Thonolan]].
* DeathByChildbirth: To [[spoiler:Jetamio, Thonolan's wife]].

* GenderIsNoObject: All of the Others (except the violently misandric band of S'Armunai encountered by the protagonists).

* GladToBeAliveSex: Ayla and Jondalar several times in ''The Plains of Passage''. One of the most notable times is after they finally make it over the glacier. [[spoiler: As the most dangerous part of their journey is now over, Ayla decides on a whim not to make the contraceptive tea she's been taking and so falls pregnant]].

* ShipSinking: The Ranec and Ayla ship is pretty much sunk by the end of ''The Mammoth Hunters'', when Ayla leaves him [[FirstGuyWins for Jondalar]], also choosing to move to the other side of the country with Jondalar at the same time - because of how long and arduous it is to make journeys in this setting, it's very unlikely they'll meet again anytime soon, if ever. It doesn't help that Ayla spent much of their relationship pining for Jondalar anyway and feeling guilty for not fully returning Ranec's affections, and straight up tells him when they break up that she was never truly in love with him. ''The Land of Painted Caves'' hammers the final nail in the coffin, as when Ayla is visited by some Mamutoi travellers, she is HappilyMarried to Jondalar [[spoiler: and they have a kid]] and she's training to become a zelandoni for her new people, whilst the visitors reveal that Ranec [[spoiler: is now mated to Tricie, his girlfriend (and the mother of his child) before he met Ayla]]. [[FanPreferredCouple Not that any of this stops some shippers, of course]].

* DownerBeginning: ''The Valley of Horses'' for Ayla. She's completely alone in the wilderness, with no home, cut off from her family, friends and people and with no idea of where she's going or what she should do. She actually briefly contemplates ''suicide'', but ultimately determines to push on and survive no matter what. Things gradually start getting better for her once she finds her cave in the Valley of Horses.
* DownerEnding: ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'' actually has one of these. [[spoiler: Broud actually [[TheBadGuyWins gets everything he wanted]] - he becomes leader and curses Ayla with death permanently, forcing Ayla to [[YouCantGoHomeAgain leave the clan]] and never see her son Durc, sister Uba, Brun or any of them again. Creb also dies ''and'' the cave is destroyed in an earthquake so the clan need to find a new home; they're also stuck with the arrogant and incompetent Broud as their leader]].\\

* QuestionableConsent: ** At least twice between Jondalar and Ayla.

* QuestionableConsent: At least twice between Jondalar and Ayla.
** First, while he still teaches her about the pleasures of sexuality and makes "the sign" to her that, according to the Clan's rules, commands her to immediatey allow him to have his way with her. Ayla obeys because she is conditioned a lifetime long to do as man tells her, but her thoughts are in the range of "for the first time, she would have refused". The fact that she's into it immediately as he starts makes it come across like NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization. There's also been some problem with communication between the pair, further complicating matters.
** Second, in the third book when they go on a hunting trip, while Ayla is technically in a relationship with Ranec and Jondalar generally behaves like a Jerkass. Jondalar, pissed off and jealous, forces himself upon her and realizes this afterwards, and while Ayla insists that she is "always ready for him", and there's more communication breakdown here, he definitely did not ask for her consent.

** [[spoiler: Ayla]] and Laramar in the sixth book, considering she was extremely drunk at the time. Laramar claims she sought him out, but she was still intoxicated and Laramar's hardly the most honest and honorable man of the Zelandonii - even the First believes he's exaggerating.

* ArrangedMarriage: In the Clan, matings are arranged the leader of a clan. Sometimes, these [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage turn out well]], such as in the case of Brun and Ebra, and Uba and Vorn. Other times, though, they don't turn out so great, such as in the case of Iza's mate, who was a domestic abuser.

* WeddingEnhancedFertility: Inverted for [[spoiler: Ayla and Jondalar]] and [[spoiler: Joplaya and Echozar]], who both discover they're pregnant before getting hitched. [[spoiler: Ayla]] is visibly pregnant during her Matrimonial. In their culture, this is seen as a blessing and pregnant brides are viewed as even more attractive.

* CoitusEnsues: From ''The Valley of Horses'' onward, Ayla and Jondalar have long, detailed sex scenes quite frequently. Minor characters too, sometimes. Apart from a few plot-important scenes, they do little except demonstrate the sexual openness of the culture... a point which was already made in other ways, such as through dialogue.

* HotSpringsEpisode: Late in ''The Plains of Passage'', Ayla and Jondalar stay with the Losadunai, who live near natural hot springs. And yes, there are [[CoitusEnsues sexy times]] in the hot springs, although there's also a subplot where Ayla and Losaduna (the local shaman) utilize a sacred hot spring in a special ritual, to help a girl come to terms with a personal trauma.

* MillsAndBoonProse: Virtually all the sex scenes (and there are [[CoitusEnsues quite a few]]).

* UnresolvedSexualTension: Between Ayla and Jondalar in ''The Valley of Horses''. They eventually [[CoitusEnsues resolve it]]. A lot. They actually manage to fall into this ''again'' though due to poor communication in ''The Mammoth Hunters''.

* ChristmasCake: Ayla, 19 years old when finally married, thinks of herself as one. Justified: Clan girls reach menarche at 9 or 10, and it's not unusual for women of the Others to have children by 16.

The novels revolve around "Ayla," a Cro-Magnon woman who lived about 30,000 years ago, somewhere near the Black Sea (modern-day Ukraine). Orphaned at five due to an earthquake, she is taken in by a group of Neanderthals. Auel goes into great detail on the physiology of these Neanderthals, who call themselves the [[TitleDrop Clan of the Cave Bear]] after their primary deity. The main difference between Clan and "Others" (Cro-Magnons) is that Clan have access to GeneticMemory, which makes them quick studies for anything their species already knows but very slow to accept innovation or change. Ayla is adopted by the clan's medicine woman, and her brother, a crippled shaman, learning a great deal of herb lore and practical medicine, but also learns to hunt in direct defiance of the Clan's traditions. Her clan's leader (the brother of the medicine woman and shaman both) accepts her as best he can, able to recognize her talents and skills even if they make him uncomfortable, but when his snotty son takes up the mantle of leadership, the son has Ayla exiled from the Clan. This would be easier on 14-year-old Ayla if she hadn't borne a son, Durc, a ''Homo neanderthalensis x sapiens'' hybrid that must be left behind.

* SufferTheSlings: Ayla's WeaponOfChoice.

* UnresolvedSexualTension: Between Ayla and Jondalar in ''The Valley of Horses''. They eventually [[CoitusEnsues resolve it]]. [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex A lot]]. They actually manage to fall into this ''again'' though due to poor communication in ''The Mammoth Hunters''.

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Played straight with Ayla and Jondalar (and [[EveryoneHasLotsOfSex almost every other protagonist]]).